The Nursery, August 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 2
TextBOBOLINK
Bobolink, Bobolink!
Are you tipsy with drink?
Or why do you swagger round so?
You've a nest in the grass
Somewhere near where I pass,
And fear I'll molest it, I know.
Bobolink, Bobolink!
Do you think, do you think,
I'd trouble your dear little nest?
Oh! I would not do that;
For I am not a cat:
So please let your mind be at rest.
North Andover, Mass. Aunt Clara.
PRAIRIE-DOGS
Annie and her baby-brother went to ride with their papa and mamma. They crossed the river on a long bridge; and beyond it they saw horses and cows feeding on the green prairie.
"What are all these heaps of dirt for?" said Annie.
"We are just entering 'dog-town,'" said her papa; "and those are the houses of the inhabitants. Do you see the two little fellows sitting up on that mound?"
"Yes," said Annie; "but they look like little fat squirrels; don't they, mamma?"
Baby pointed his little chubby finger, and said, "Ish!"
"They are prairie-dogs," said mamma; "but are sometimes called the 'wish-ton-wish' and 'prairie marmot,' and sometimes 'prairie marmot squirrel.' It is like the marmot because it burrows in the ground, and like the squirrel because it has cheek-pouches."
"Well, what do they call them dogs for?" said Annie.
"Let us stop and watch them," said her papa. "Hark! do you hear them bark?"
"Yes: it is a little squeaking bark," said Annie. "It sounds like 'chip-chip-chip.'"
"Now see," said her papa, "how funnily that little fellow sits up, with his fore-paws hanging down, and watches us."
Annie shook the whip; and the prairie-dog scampered into his hole. Up he popped his head again in a moment, and jerked his short tail, and barked.
This seemed a signal for the whole town. On almost every mound appeared two or three dogs; and they set up such a barking and jerking of tails, that everybody in the wagon laughed and shouted.
"Now we will ride up close to the mound," said papa, as he started up old Fox, and sung a bit of the old song:—
"The prairie-dogs in dog-town
Will wag each little tail,
And think there's something coming
Riding on a rail."
There were several bushels of dirt in the mound. In the centre of it was the hole, which was very large at the entrance. The earth all around was worn very smooth and hard.
Here the little dogs sit and bark and jerk, ready to dodge into their hole in a moment. They all looked fat and clumsy. Their color is reddish-brown. Owls and rattlesnakes are often found living with them; but Annie did not see any.
Mrs. O. Howard.
DEAR LITTLE MARY
Dear little Mary,
Susan and Loo,
Jenny and Lizzie,
And Margaret too;
Now the sun's peeping,
Softly and sly,
In at the window,
Pets, where you lie!
Up, up, my darlings,
Up and away!
Out to the meadows
Sweet with new hay;
Out where the berries,
Dewy and red,
Hang in great clusters,
High overhead!
Out where the golden-rod
Bends on its stalk,
And the wild roses
Gladden our walk;
Where amid bushes
Hidden but heard,
Joyous and grateful
Sings many a bird.
Out where the waters,
Merry and sweet,
Ripple and tinkle
Close by your feet;
Where all things happy,
Fragrant, and fair,
In the bright morning
Welcome you there!
Mathias Barb.
A JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA
Two little girls, Annette and Lisette, went to California with their parents in 1849. There was no Pacific Railroad at that time; and the journey across the plains was a long and a hard one.
Annette and Lisette rode in the great wagon drawn by oxen. They thought that fine fun. At night they slept in a tent. On pleasant days they walked with their mamma for miles over the green prairies, plucking wild-flowers as they went along.
They saw great numbers of the funny little prairie-dogs sitting in the doors of their cunning houses; sometimes they caught sight of an antelope; and they often passed great herds of shaggy buffaloes.
They liked the prairie-dogs and the antelopes; but they were afraid of the buffaloes; and, when their papa went out to shoot one, they would almost cry for fear he would get hurt. But, when he came back with plenty of nice buffalo-meat, they had a real feast; for they had had no meat but salt-pork for many a day, and they did not like that very well.
Sometimes a storm would come up with fearful peals of thunder, and flashes of lightning. More than once the tent was blown down, and the rain came pouring on them; but the little girls put their heads under the bed-clothes, and crept close to their mamma, and never minded the storm.
After travelling in this way three or four months, they were still many, many days' journey away from California, and Annette and Lisette began to wish themselves back in their old home; for now the plains were no longer green and bright with flowers, but hot, sandy, and dusty, with only ugly little bushes, called "sage-bushes," growing on them.
Sometimes they would have to go all day without water; for the water was so warm and impure, that nobody could drink it,—not even the cattle. They saw several hot springs, so hot that they could not put their hands in them; but their mamma found them very nice for washing clothes.
Late in the fall they crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains; and, oh! how steep and narrow and rough the road was! Often their papa had to fasten logs of wood to the wagons to keep them from going down the mountains too fast. Sometimes a wagon would upset, and go rolling down hill.